Roaccutane

Lil' Smiler

Hello all,


I've been told for the second time that I should go on Roaccutane for my acne.

Just wondering what everyone's views are on it?
Have you been on it? if so have you had any side effects? Was it helpful?

If not, did you opt not to go on it? and why?


I've being very hasty about going on it but i've been trying to tackle Cystic Acne for 5 years, I'm now 21 and can't stick it much longer

Shamrogue

Its excellent is my view on it. I had pretty bad acne before I went on Roaccutane. Im basically 100% clear now since treatment stopped 1 year ago, apart from the odd one every now and then.

Yes, it does have side affects. There are reports of depression that people believe to be linked to roaccutane but i didnt experience any, nor did i feel any different while taking it.
Basic side affects as far as i can remember are:
- Dry lips, vaseline will be your pal.
- The tips of my fingers peeled and shriveled a bit but nothing serious.
- I think joints and muscle aches can happen also but I didnt get any of these.
- Basically it drys you out alot, which brings us on to another big point, you liver, it wont be able to handle drink to easily, i was told dont drink, ur livers 'dry' and drinking can damage it. Being Irish I drank, but not being a fool, a drank little and not often, and got drunk easily.

Its generally a 6 month program your on, they usually start you off on a small dosage, but i ended up goin on 60miligrams, twice a day I think, after a few months.
If you start, you finish, if your clear after 4 months of a 6month program, do the 6 months, you dont want it coming back to bite ya in the ass (it doesn't actually attack your ass).
I think in the end I did 8 months total.

Hope that helps ya a bit.

Fast_Mover

My friend was on it..cleared up her acne aswell. Had no side effects apart from her skin being sensitive to light, dry lips..
Im going through a really bad stage with my skin at the moment for some reason, hasnt cleared up properly in about 3months (prob down to stress with college/placement) but would never think of going on it..the thought of what its doing to the inside of you is not my cup of tea/my body is a temple thanks very much. It shrinks your oil glands way down..but you need oil in your skin to be healthy. My friend would even suggest not to go on it.

Have you tried other routes OP? Facials? Diet good? Exercise? Though in saying all that, skin is hereditary..what's your parents skin like/other siblings?

20 Times 20 Times

I was on it , BEST THING EVER !!!! cleared by skin up completely after about 2 months , now i got VERY BAD dried skin and dried lips , the thing is you have to use LOADS of moisturizer . Go on it honestly , im even excited for you writing this

Lil' Smiler

Fast_Mover wrote: »

My friend was on it..cleared up her acne aswell. Had no side effects apart from her skin being sensitive to light, dry lips..
Im going through a really bad stage with my skin at the moment for some reason, hasnt cleared up properly in about 3months (prob down to stress with college/placement) but would never think of going on it..the thought of what its doing to the inside of you is not my cup of tea/my body is a temple thanks very much. It shrinks your oil glands way down..but you need oil in your skin to be healthy. My friend would even suggest not to go on it.

Have you tried other routes OP? Facials? Diet good? Exercise? Though in saying all that, skin is hereditary..what's your parents skin like/other siblings?

Oh yes!! tried everything! did the 6 month anti - b's when i was 16, helped a little but was in a difficult 2 & a half yr relationship and had leaving cert/ change to college/ not liking college. changed my pill to Dianette which made no difference except make me feel very down.

My diets fine yes, drink plenty of water, love my fruit & veg. Facials yes, i'm a Holistic Therapist ao have tried blending oils for myself. I'm pretty active so no problem there either!

The Dr said the other day that it's hormonal in my case with break outs of eczema and impetigo and once i get one spot/cyst the rest of my skin picks it up. Pretty crappy!!

Have been using Danné Montague King products for the last year and a bit which have done wonders but for some reason my skin isn't healing at the moment, i need to be able to control the cysts to prevent scarring and the acne becoming chronic. I'm getting a treatment tomorrow whereby the ph level of the skin is brought up & an enzyme mask is used, did wonders last year when my skin went insane just before the break up with my ex




Sarge & Shamrogue - yes all i've heard now is positive things about it. I've history of depression & when my skin gets crap i feel very down so I'm mostly worried about how it might affect me emotionally, ya know?

I can cope with things like not drinking, I like a drink but it's not the end of the world if i don't go out and get plastered or anything!!

20 Times 20 Times

I used to have REALLY bad skin , i wouldn't say i got depressed about it but sometimes i certainly did feel down , I never suffered any type of depression while on this drug to be honest. And how i felt when i was clearing up was amazing dry skin and all. Consult your GP about any fears you might have.I had to go to a specialist to get the prescription for this drug , I'm sure thats still the case ?

MayMay

Lil Smiler I would have suggested everything else first but it looks like you've tried everything else so maybe you should go for it? Can I ask how long you were on Dianette? Because it took a good few months for that to work for me but once it did it was brilliant and I never looked back....otherwise judging from what people have said here and in similar threads it looks like overall Roaccutane has been a better thing than it's been bad....there's nothing worse than bad skin, you just want to hide from the world. If you go on Roaccutane the very best of luck, I hope it all works out for you.

Lil' Smiler

I was on Dianette for 6 months.. I have Cystic Acne so it was meant to be great for it but really made no difference

I can kind of cope with the look of spots most of the time as make up will disguise it ( i don't cake make up on) but now it's not doing that and because i get cysts, my skin and face really hurt, my cheeks, chin & nose get swollen and the skin goes dry and breaks and then my defence glands on my neck swell up for protection... great fun really!?!

it's just you know with winter coming in, and central heating and the like it'll aggravate the skin!!

MayMay

God that sounds awful Try Roaccutane....it doesn't sound like any of the side effects could be much worse than what you're going through at the moment?

Lil' Smiler

Ah yeah, I suppose in the last year i've gone through a huge change in myself from coming from the crappy horrible relationship to a nice year with the most perfect guy so i've kinda learned now that i just have to accept that i have it and move on. it's not fair for everyone else to listen to me moan about it!

How quickly did everyone begin to see results from Roaccutane actually?

Getting excited about this treatment now today, so hopefully it'll help!!

Fast_Mover

I was on Dianette for a bit..didn't clear my skin at all. When I used to be on yasmin, my skin cleared up really well. So perhaps Dianette didn't suit you?

Do you pick your skin?

SprostonGreen

Yes Roaccuntane is briliant, cleared up my acne and havent looked back.

I did used to get depressed, that was when I was on four tablets a day, but when I was on one and two, no issues.

In the end I used to take before bed so that I would sleep through the blues.

lizzyvera

I got quite depressed on it but it turns out the dose was far too high the first time I tried it.
The second time I tried it it was perfect and years later my skin is still perfect, although I'm still on Yasmin.

My GP made me rate my happiness out of ten when I was depressed and while I was treated for it, without realising, my rating went up and up. Next time I was on Roaccutane we did the same thing to keep an eye on my mood. It's a good idea.

Other than that the side effects are worth it! Dipro Base is the BEST moisturiser for very dry skin. Generally, you'll be using so much moisturiser that there's no point getting brand name expensive ones- the ones in the pharmacy for excema (sp?) are better anyway.
It begins to work almost immediately so you get a few new spots and the current ones take a month or so to clear, depending how deep and big they are etc. When you do get new spots for the first while they're smaller.

Don't mind people who don't know anything about biology or medicine telling you to change your diet or mechanically mess with your skin, scrubbing actually damages it, inflames acne and inhibits healing and facials are not recommended by most doctors because they are ineffective.
I was so sick of that- people thinking I was dirty and unhealthy. Look up acne on wikipedia and in the british medical journal and you'll find that diet has nothing to do with it, except for dairy in asians and africans.

Jumpy

Roaccutane was the only thing that cleared me up years back. Dont know if they have changed it at all since then, but depression was very bad.
It does work though. But only use it if you have a serious pizza face. It is not worth it for a few spots here and there.

20 Times 20 Times

jumpy there is not a dermatologist in the world that would subscribe Roacctane to someone that only had a few spots here and there as you said , it just wouldn't be ethical. Lil Smiley the treatment worked after about 2 months with me but i stayed on tablets for about 4 months. Was a great feeling when people used to come over to me and say how much better i looked.

Lil' Smiler

Well in all fairness Sarge, that's part of my holding bak on going on it.my skin isn't like "pizza face" as one poster described. i have a few regular cysts on my face, my nose, chin, one on each side of my cheek. so maybe 5 regular cysts in total that come and go every few months and i nver get actual spots like with pus heads.


So I got my first treatment today from my friend who's a Danné therapist.. about an hour an a half, my skin feels great and looks 10 times better today. think i'm gonna try o with the Danné treatments every few weeks and see how I can get on without putting Roaccutane in my body.

This is what i got done..

http://www.dannemking.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=338&Itemid=210

http://www.dannemking.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=366&Itemid=210



What I heard about feeling down and stuff ws that you don't necessarily know you are but that the people around you can.. pretty weird!!

lilRedSmurf

Just a suggestion but there is a way to top up your alkaline treatment at home. Its something I've found fantastically useful for excessively oily acne prone skin. And its actually very gentle on the skin. I have very sensitive skin and I use it whenever i have a breakout.

Take a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and mix to a soft paste with a teaspoon or so of a light moisturiser. Apply gently in small circular motions and leave as a mask for up to 8 min for very acne prone skin. No more then 1 treatment a week.

Reduces oil and acompanying bacterial production massively.


And if you do choose the roaccutane route make sure you have plenty of things like flax seeds or flax seed oil, unheated olive oil and fresh nuts in your diet. It helps support the liver when oil production is cut.
And try using an oil as a moisturiser in the shower in the morning. Olive oil or jojoba oil with a combination of your favorite essential oils, it works a treat when the skin gets very dry after the first weeks of treatment.

Lil' Smiler

lilRedSmurf wrote: »

Just a suggestion but there is a way to top up your alkaline treatment at home. Its something I've found fantastically useful for excessively oily acne prone skin. And its actually very gentle on the skin. I have very sensitive skin and I use it whenever i have a breakout.

Take a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and mix to a soft paste with a teaspoon or so of a light moisturiser. Apply gently in small circular motions and leave as a mask for up to 8 min for very acne prone skin. No more then 1 treatment a week.

Reduces oil and acompanying bacterial production massively.


And if you do choose the roaccutane route make sure you have plenty of things like flax seeds or flax seed oil, unheated olive oil and fresh nuts in your diet. It helps support the liver when oil production is cut.
And try using an oil as a moisturiser in the shower in the morning. Olive oil or jojoba oil with a combination of your favorite essential oils, it works a treat when the skin gets very dry after the first weeks of treatment.

My problem is that i don't have oily skin at all!! I can't really use anything else with my Danné products (serums, sprays, transdermal block, moisturiser etc) and because my skin is so sensetive i don't want to try anything on it! but it sounds like a great suggestion!

My skin was itchy and hot last night and this morning, it's looking alittle red as the blood circulation is still good from the treatment! my cheeks look rosey, which my bf told me was cute.. i think i just look like i've sunburn hehe!!

Think I'm going to stick with the treatments for the moment and see how my skin takes to it. I really don't want to go on Roaccutane or put anything into mt body that I don't need!!

Jeebus

I did it a while ago, gave it up about a week ago though.

Why ?

Made my skin incredibly dry, especially my lips. Couldn't even kiss, or strech them they were so chapped.

Would probably affect different people in different ways, though, and it certainly works (if only a little too well!), just have someone keep an eye on you for the first while, and buy a ****load of chapstick, moisturiser and conditioner right from the beginning !

WindSock

Can't praise it highly enough, end results weigh out the side effects by 10,000. I had a cluster of spots on my chin for years, make up didn't work so well, or anything else. I took roaccutane and had really dry chapped skin for a short while, I took the stuff for 6 months 7 years ago, and have never looked back. I don't use foundation at all now, and I get the odd few spot, but never anything like before.

Jayeire

Tane is the best thing ever, went on it like a year ago. My skin it totally clear now DO IT lol